When I was a younger man, a boy really, I inflated my every accomplishment - which were in fact quite few. I was quick to brag about anything positive in my life, and gladly exaggerate to shine a brighter light on myself. To be viewed as more than I was.

At 40, I have grown up to a point, and look back and see how ridiculous I was. And while I feel a slight sense of unease at who I was, I have the confidence of knowing I'm likely not the only one who has made this journey.

But I can say with complete confidence that the President of the United States has not made this trek. And his childlike ego, which couldn't resist being stroked in a new biography, is showcasing how easily he can lie, even about the grandest of decisions, and even to the noblest of people.

"Yeah, I can't remember, I’m sure I said, 'This is the policy, what happened?'" But, he added, "Again, Hadley’s got notes on all of this stuff," referring to Stephen J. Hadley, his national security adviser.

Bremer huddled in a tiny office in the Republican Palace with four of his aides: Scott Carpenter from State, whom Liz Cheney had put in charge of the Iraqi governance issue; Meghan O'Sullivan, the State Department official who had come over to Garner's team with Tom Warrick, only to be chased out by Cheney's office and sneaked back in with the tacit approval of Rumsfeld and Hadley; Ryan Crocker of the State Department; and Roman Martinez, a 24-year-old Harvard graduate who had worked with Feith at the Pentagon. Each of the five had a copy of the de-Baathification order.

"The White House, DOD, and State all signed off on this," Bremer said. So let's give it one final reading and, unless there's some major screwup in the language, I'll sign it."

The next morning, May 16, Bremer signed the de-Baathification order. Later that day, he wrote in his book, he e-mailed his wife back home in the United States, as he tried to do each day, to tell her about the response he'd heard from Americans on the ground. "There was a sea of bitching and moaning with lots of them saying how hard it was going to be. I reminded them that the president's guidance is clear: de-Baathification will be carried out even if at a cost to administrative efficiency. An ungood time was had by all."

A previously undisclosed exchange of letters shows that President Bush was told in advance by his top Iraq envoy in May 2003 of a plan to “dissolve Saddam’s military and intelligence structures,” a plan that the envoy, L. Paul Bremer, said referred to dismantling the Iraqi Army.

Mr. Bremer provided the letters to The New York Times on Monday after reading that Mr. Bush was quoted in a new book as saying that American policy had been "to keep the army intact" but that it "didn’t happen."

The dismantling of the Iraqi Army in the aftermath of the American invasion is now widely regarded as a mistake that stoked rebellion among hundreds of thousands of former Iraqi soldiers and made it more difficult to reduce sectarian bloodshed and attacks by insurgents. In releasing the letters, Mr. Bremer said he wanted to refute the suggestion in Mr. Bush’s comment that Mr. Bremer had acted to disband the army without the knowledge and concurrence of the White House.

"We must make it clear to everyone that we mean business: that Saddam and the Baathists are finished," Mr. Bremer wrote in a letter that was drafted on May 20, 2003, and sent to the president on May 22 through Donald H. Rumsfeld, then secretary of defense.

After recounting American efforts to remove members of the Baath Party of Saddam Hussein from civilian agencies, Mr. Bremer told Mr. Bush that he would "parallel this step with an even more robust measure" to dismantle the Iraq military.

One day later, Mr. Bush wrote back a short thank you letter. "Your leadership is apparent," the president wrote. "You have quickly made a positive and significant impact. You have my full support and confidence."

Finally tonight, a Special Comment about Mr. Bush’s trip, and his startling admission of the true motive for this war, which was revealed in his absence.

And so he is back from his annual surprise gratuitous photo-op in Iraq, and what a sorry spectacle it was.

But it was nothing compared to the spectacle of one unfiltered, unguarded, horrifying quotation in the new biography to which Mr. Bush has consented.

As he deceived the troops at Al-Asad Air Base yesterday with the tantalizing prospect that some of them might not have to risk being killed and might get to go home, Mr. Bush probably did not know that, with his own words, he had already proved that he had been lying — is lying… will be lying — about Iraq.

He presumably did not know, that there had already appeared those damning excerpts from Robert Draper’s book "Dead Certain."

"I’m playing for October-November," Mr. Bush said to Draper.

That, evidently, is the time during which, he thinks he can sell us the real plan.

Which is, to quote him: "To get us in a position where the presidential candidates, will be comfortable about sustaining a presence."

Comfortable, that is, with saying about Iraq, again quoting the President, "stay longer."

And there it is, sir. We've caught you.

The President of the United States is a child. A lying, insecure child who will do and say anything to appear a success. It is why he speaks so fondly of a distant time in the future, when he'll be viewed as a hero. That is how children and the perpetually immature think.

And yet this man-child, with ungodly military power at his disposal and without the ability to truly comprehend human suffering outside of his own, will continue his reckless plan of occupying Iraq, as plans to attack Iran are readied. All because no adult in the room will stand up to him.

--WKW

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President George W. Bush: A lying man-child the adults won't stand up to

When I was a younger man, a boy really, I inflated my every accomplishment - which were in fact quite few. I was quick to brag about anything positive in my life, and gladly exaggerate to shine a brighter light on myself. To be viewed as more than I was.

At 40, I have grown up to a point, and look back and see how ridiculous I was. And while I feel a slight sense of unease at who I was, I have the confidence of knowing I'm likely not the only one who has made this journey.

But I can say with complete confidence that the President of the United States has not made this trek. And his childlike ego, which couldn't resist being stroked in a new biography, is showcasing how easily he can lie, even about the grandest of decisions, and even to the noblest of people.

"Yeah, I can't remember, I’m sure I said, 'This is the policy, what happened?'" But, he added, "Again, Hadley’s got notes on all of this stuff," referring to Stephen J. Hadley, his national security adviser.

Bremer huddled in a tiny office in the Republican Palace with four of his aides: Scott Carpenter from State, whom Liz Cheney had put in charge of the Iraqi governance issue; Meghan O'Sullivan, the State Department official who had come over to Garner's team with Tom Warrick, only to be chased out by Cheney's office and sneaked back in with the tacit approval of Rumsfeld and Hadley; Ryan Crocker of the State Department; and Roman Martinez, a 24-year-old Harvard graduate who had worked with Feith at the Pentagon. Each of the five had a copy of the de-Baathification order.

"The White House, DOD, and State all signed off on this," Bremer said. So let's give it one final reading and, unless there's some major screwup in the language, I'll sign it."

The next morning, May 16, Bremer signed the de-Baathification order. Later that day, he wrote in his book, he e-mailed his wife back home in the United States, as he tried to do each day, to tell her about the response he'd heard from Americans on the ground. "There was a sea of bitching and moaning with lots of them saying how hard it was going to be. I reminded them that the president's guidance is clear: de-Baathification will be carried out even if at a cost to administrative efficiency. An ungood time was had by all."

A previously undisclosed exchange of letters shows that President Bush was told in advance by his top Iraq envoy in May 2003 of a plan to “dissolve Saddam’s military and intelligence structures,” a plan that the envoy, L. Paul Bremer, said referred to dismantling the Iraqi Army.

Mr. Bremer provided the letters to The New York Times on Monday after reading that Mr. Bush was quoted in a new book as saying that American policy had been "to keep the army intact" but that it "didn’t happen."

The dismantling of the Iraqi Army in the aftermath of the American invasion is now widely regarded as a mistake that stoked rebellion among hundreds of thousands of former Iraqi soldiers and made it more difficult to reduce sectarian bloodshed and attacks by insurgents. In releasing the letters, Mr. Bremer said he wanted to refute the suggestion in Mr. Bush’s comment that Mr. Bremer had acted to disband the army without the knowledge and concurrence of the White House.

"We must make it clear to everyone that we mean business: that Saddam and the Baathists are finished," Mr. Bremer wrote in a letter that was drafted on May 20, 2003, and sent to the president on May 22 through Donald H. Rumsfeld, then secretary of defense.

After recounting American efforts to remove members of the Baath Party of Saddam Hussein from civilian agencies, Mr. Bremer told Mr. Bush that he would "parallel this step with an even more robust measure" to dismantle the Iraq military.

One day later, Mr. Bush wrote back a short thank you letter. "Your leadership is apparent," the president wrote. "You have quickly made a positive and significant impact. You have my full support and confidence."

Finally tonight, a Special Comment about Mr. Bush’s trip, and his startling admission of the true motive for this war, which was revealed in his absence.

And so he is back from his annual surprise gratuitous photo-op in Iraq, and what a sorry spectacle it was.

But it was nothing compared to the spectacle of one unfiltered, unguarded, horrifying quotation in the new biography to which Mr. Bush has consented.

As he deceived the troops at Al-Asad Air Base yesterday with the tantalizing prospect that some of them might not have to risk being killed and might get to go home, Mr. Bush probably did not know that, with his own words, he had already proved that he had been lying — is lying… will be lying — about Iraq.

He presumably did not know, that there had already appeared those damning excerpts from Robert Draper’s book "Dead Certain."

"I’m playing for October-November," Mr. Bush said to Draper.

That, evidently, is the time during which, he thinks he can sell us the real plan.

Which is, to quote him: "To get us in a position where the presidential candidates, will be comfortable about sustaining a presence."

Comfortable, that is, with saying about Iraq, again quoting the President, "stay longer."

And there it is, sir. We've caught you.

The President of the United States is a child. A lying, insecure child who will do and say anything to appear a success. It is why he speaks so fondly of a distant time in the future, when he'll be viewed as a hero. That is how children and the perpetually immature think.

And yet this man-child, with ungodly military power at his disposal and without the ability to truly comprehend human suffering outside of his own, will continue his reckless plan of occupying Iraq, as plans to attack Iran are readied. All because no adult in the room will stand up to him.

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